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It is the case of Maoist operation in an area called Kalinga Nagar. This area is somewhere around the NH-6, between Kolkatta and Bhubaneswar. The govt had aquired land in these largely inhibited areas through a govt subsidiary in early 90s. The land prices were dirt cheap then, the govt paid rates higher than market rate to acquire some land to set up an industrial park.

in 2005, the land prices had increased across the country….Industry was coming up in that industrial area because of govt effort, so speculators got in, and the land prices further increased to 10 times or more to the 1992 prices. This is an easy issue of lost opportunity…easy to convince people of an imminent profit from govt… people of that area demanded more money than agreed upon in 1990s…The govt partially agreed , but again confusion on land records was created….One fine day, a group attacked police in a Tata project site, and Hacked a policeman to death. When it was all over, 11 were dead, including one or more police.

Why did it come to this situation, even when govt agreed to pay part of the appreciation since 1992….Who and why it was getting impatient on something that happened in 1990s when land was plenty ? Who attacked the police in Tata project site …After the unfortunate incident, the national high way was closed for so long…who had power to do that ?

It seems all these questions were given a short shift, by vested interests in Media. One tiny item in a local newspaper had indicated that couple of people had taken training in maoist activities from that area. Rest, the local and national news (rediff included) paper made it a pro poor issue where people are organizing on their own.

In 2008, it seems the local commandeer of those incidents is arrested…Mr Anand Chandra Reddy was visiting his woman partner in the hospital when police arrested him. This guy Reddy has a windfall in terms of money and power compared to his humble education…He was doing his bachelors in Hyderabad, when he joined the maoists. He changed his name to Anand Reddy, but popularly known as Anna Reddy.

He has 13 cases against him in kalinga Nagar area…He has killed poor govt employees, and other area commanders of Maoists in nearby areas to gain power…Political activity of main parties have been threated in the area…The main political party people were not allowed to visit the victims…

According to news reports ( ref 30-1-08-Dha) when The maoists blocked the Highway and police…Police SP made a condition with the Maoists not to arrest them.In return Maoists opened the highway….

Criminals in national media attempt to misinform people about Kalinga Nagar…The article doesn’t say that police were attacked and were massacred when on duty….The activist is silent on the maoist word…and somehow it gets to rediff through Archana Masih – a leftist operative…. Anna Reddy meanwhile massacres lower ranking govt employees…and his opponents….where would they go ? even new media like Rediff has Maoist supporters….Archana Masih would find another racial story if the maoists get exposed.